Paint Splatter
by Ikerot Dea
Summary: Naruto's usual routine was suddenly broken when he met a girl in the name of Hinata. The next thing he knew, everything around him started to change. There were new friends other than his roommate, Gaara. And maybe... he would even find love. - Naruto x Hinata
1. Prologue

To the Readers:

* * *

I am a fan of Naruto, not Shippuden. However, I do like the appearance of the characters grown up and the Akatsuki. I especially love the scene with Hinata when she confessed to Naruto. That was beautiful. But my heart still stays with the first season of Naruto. So that means I will refer to the Naruto and not Shippuden. The character's appearance will be from Shippuden. Yeah, kind of confusing.

So in the world of Naruto (first season), there is no Akatsuki or any other characters in Shippuden. Just putting that out there. I feel weird writing this story while Shippuden is at a World War right now. It's pretty funny.

Another thing: I tend to make a lot of reference from Naruto. Just letting you know that.

* * *

Prologue

* * *

He walked around town, avoiding eye contacts with the civilians. They did the same. This was his usual morning. It wasn't because he was socially awkward or anything like that, but rather, because of his eyes. Naruto had extraordinary bright, red eyes. It probably even glowed in the dark, though he hadn't bothered to check it out after all these years. His current destination was to the playground. It was called Rogra, or at least that was what Naruto preferred to call it. It was a place for artists to come and show their artwork by painting on the wall. Nobody really used it much, and all of the art covering the walls of Rogra was made by Naruto alone.

Today was a rather remarkable morning, not part of his routine. A girl was looking at it. No, that wasn't right. She had a small paintbrush on her hand… and it was touching his art. He frowned, quickening his pace as he shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?"

She was startled, but made sure not to smudge anything. She put down the brush, and said, "I'm sorry. Are you the one painting all of these?"

He scratched his head. Not many people acknowledged his paintings. "Yeah."

The girl smiled, her dusky beryl hair waving with the motion of the wind. "I really like them a lot." Then she blushed, and her eyes averted his aggressive glare. "I was just trying to enhance it. That's all. I wasn't trying to tarnish it or anything."

Naruto stopped the ongoing ferociousness, and took a look at the wall. His eyes widened, seeing how she had made his art stood out more than it used to. He glanced at her, who was staring at the ground, muttering, "They were wearing off after the massive storm we had yesterday. I just wanted to fix them."

He sighed, apologizing to her. She was surprised, looking up at him. "I was just assuming things. Sorry I got mad."

She put her brush back into her box, holding it up, and said, "I have to go, but before I do, can I have your name?"

"Naruto."

"Hinata," she replied. "Well, good bye."

She waved to him and headed off the opposite direction. He shoved his hands into his pockets, tilting his head a bit in question of the girl. She had white eyes that showed no pupil, and it surprised him that there was another person with such unnatural eyes according to society. Pulling out his hands, he realized that he didn't have his brush with him. So basically, his journey here was for nothing. Well, at least it was for something.

He met a girl, and she appeared to me the same age as him. Shrugging, he turned back to home and began to walk. Maybe Gaara would know.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

Naruto returned home just in time before his roommate had gone to school.

"Gaara, I have something to ask you."

He stopped midway of closing the door, his heavy mascara still made Naruto cringed from the sight of him. He had a bag hung over his shoulder, an mp3 player in his hand, beige pants, and a gray shirt with a white stripe across his chest. Gaara faced Naruto, his eyes reflecting Naruto's. "What is it?" he responded.

"Is there a Hinata attending your school?"

"She's on the top ten of the smartest person in our school. Yeah, she goes to the Hidden Leaf Academy. Why'd you ask?" he was becoming suspicious.

Though Naruto made no attempt to pull an excuse out of thin air. "I was just wondering. I met her this morning."

"You've never taken interest in anybody before." Gaara smiled before his inevitable request, "Maybe you should come back to school—"

"Denied."

Gaara's shoulder slumped as he heaved a heavy sigh. "Is this all you wanted?"

"Yup." He nodded.

"Then I'll be going."

"See you later." Naruto waved.

He scurried away from the apartment buildings and hurried off to school. Naruto slammed the door shut behind him when he entered his home. It was kept clean, which was pretty surprising to some people. He supposed that was what boredom made him do. An easel sat toward the left side of the living room. There was a small hall that held two doors to two bedrooms. The one on the right was his. When the miniature hallway ended, there was the living room, dining room, kitchen, and another passageway to the bathroom.

Naruto had known his roommate for about five years if he could remember correctly. At that time, he had quit coming to school and had run away from the orphanage. Gaara, being at the same orphanage as Naruto, followed him with worry in his mind. He planned to take Naruto back before they were punished, though that backfired and now he was here with Naruto. The manager here at Hagakure Apartment didn't exactly care that they were runaways and were merely kids, so long as they paid their bills. It was hard at first, but they managed.

Gaara found himself a stable part-time job, and he was able to pay half of the bill. Naruto paid the other half by selling his art as an anonymous on the internet. What was better was that the place they escaped had given up on bringing them back due to the fact that they had realized that the two were able to live on their own without any trouble. They didn't want any more trouble from Naruto and Gaara anyway.

The red-eye boy softly smiled, putting up a canvas onto the easel. Ever since the beginning of the year, he couldn't help but to smile for no exact reason. It was possibly because for once, he felt as if he was home. There was nobody here in his sanctum to ridicule him for his eyes. _Demon child. _The watchers of the orphanage never attempted to figure out why Naruto cried every night. They would only whip him in order to shut him up. He sighed, his smile disappearing from remembering these memories.

Rattling his head in disgust, he walked to his room to get his patella. His kit was sitting neatly beside his bed. He wondered how he had forgotten this. He picked it up and ambled back to where he was. Opening it, he grabbed the patella and a few colored paste. Sticking his thumb into the hole, he then closed his eyes in order to pick his colors. They were scattered on the floor, and he picked whichever his fingers touched.

Red, yellow, and green.

His brows raised in question. Red and yellow went well together, but green? He couldn't exactly figure out what to do with the green. Well, it was a great time to test out his abilities.

* * *

Gaara was late for school as he suspected. Standing outside the classroom as the teacher, Kakashi Hatake, asked him to. He sighed, scratching his head.

"Oh, Gaara, you're late too?" Kankuro said casually, walking up to him. "I supposed I'll wait with you until Hatake feels like letting us in."

"Indeed."

Kankuro hadn't time to plaster his face with paint today nor wear his hoodie. So to Gaara, it was a tad awkward to stare at his naked face. He was what one could say the clown of the class. Rather than Naruto, Gaara only connected to two people in the Hidden Leaf Academy. They were like siblings to him. Speaking of siblings, his 'sister' poked her head out of the door and signaled that they were able to come in.

"Hey, Temari, can I borrow your fan?" Kankuro asked as he entered.

"Ahem…" Hatake coughed.

"Oh, sorry." He chuckled.

"Please get into your groups, we're starting starting a project." Then he looked at the three standing by the door. "I keep on forgetting you three are like glue."

While everybody else was scampering around to nudge themselves into groups, Kakashi was brushing his hair with his fingers. Kankuro pointed at the teacher, and said, "Mr. Hatake, you're not supposed to be wearing masks."

"But don't you think it makes me look so much more mysterious?" he joked, smiling, although nobody could really see it. "Besides, why are you saying that now? You've been in my class for nearly three months now."

"I just realized that you were wearing a mask," Kankuro replied, shrugging.

"Really?" Temari butted in. "Did you not notice his eyepatch too?"

"Really?" Kankuro repeated her first word. "I never knew that."

"I think it's time you get glasses, Kankuro."

Kakashi chuckled, clapping his hands to get the class' attention. "Is everybody in a group?" he turned to the three siblings. "Go to your seats."

When everybody was seated, he resumed his speech about the upcoming project. But the upcoming chatter from the girls toward the corner of the room grabbed Gaara's attention. He peeked upward, checking out what the sound was on about. It was the usual thing, and he sighed. Sasuke Uchiha, the boy whom all the girls would die for. And even kill for. Hatake groaned, shouting at the lively group. "You can't have more than four!"

After the explanation of the project, which was basically a presentation for the class about a book that the group would decide to read, Kakashi ended with, "That's it for today, you guys can have a study session."

Temari sighed, muttering, "How did he even become a teacher?"

Kakashi laid back in his chair, and opened his book to the page he was on. Gaara wondered what he was reading. That question had been always on his mind. Well, it didn't matter anyway, he focused his attention on his group on what they should do for the project.

The day went by and when it was lunch, he was going to walk with Temari to the cafeteria. Before he could pass the door, a pink-hair girl bumped into him. She apologized, and then continued on running to where Sasuke was. He sighed. Another one of his fangirls. Temari patted his back, and pushed him on to continue. Kankuro had to go to the library for something and said he would meet with them later on.

Down in the halls, Gaara could stop searching for the girl Naruto mentioned. Hinata Hyuga. If he could remember, he had seen her around her classroom with two other boys. Then he wondered what made Naruto so interested in her. The only explanation was because of her eyes. It sounded stupid, so he tossed that away.

* * *

Naruto stopped painting an hour ago after finishing the sunset. He already knew what to use the green for, and he couldn't believe he was boggled with what to use it for. Grass, duh. It would take him a while to bring just one color to life, so he decided to take a break and watch some TV. There was nothing interesting to watch as usual. Naruto switched to the cooking channel, and watched the lady instructed him on how to make some sort of money saving soft cheese and pepperoni bread. He was drooling at the sight of it. It reminded him that he was hungry. His stomach growled, ordering him to bring food or else.

He followed the command, deciding to head out for a nearby café.

* * *

Gaara got curry bread for lunch, though Temari bothered him to eat something else healthier. He didn't listen and bit right in. They were sitting outside and beside the cafeteria. It was an open area for students to roam around during lunch time. They were under the protection of the roof above their heads, since Temari predicted that it would rain within ten minutes. Gaara was on the verge of believing her. The clouds were shady and he swore he heard thunder during class time.

While they had their conversation, Gaara finally saw the white-eye girl. She was walking by herself, but soon was accompanied by Kiba. He had a dog on his head, and didn't bother about it. Even though Gaara had seen this for a year or so, it still amazed him on how the staff hadn't taken the dog away yet. Actually, if they didn't complain about his teacher and his mask, then they probably wouldn't with Akamaru.

Now that he had a look of Hinata, he suddenly lost interest. She was a smart girl, and was a great artist. Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't easily trust anybody he met nor was intrigued by others. The thought of this was baffling to Gaara.

Kankuro arrived ten minutes before lunch was about to end. Like he always did, he brought up an irrelevant topic. "Hey, Gaara, can you come to your house?"

"Why?"

"For our project."

He stared at Kankuro, his dull face explained everything. "Why?"

He shrugged, replying, "I don't know. We've never been to your house before."

Gaara sighed. They hadn't realized that he was living in an apartment with a guy who refused to go to school. It wouldn't matter if they found out now. The only problem he had was that Naruto might end up glaring at them throughout the entire time.

"You got an idea for it?" she questioned.

"A puppet show."

"Why am I not surprised?" Temari responded.

"What?"

If it was a puppet show, maybe Gaara could somehow bring Naruto into this. "Let's go to my place then. I have somebody who can help."

"Alright! We'll decide the positions after school!" he happily shouted. "Until then, I need to get something to eat before lunch ends."

Then he hurried off to the cafeteria. With the, the day passed without any warning. And they were walking out of school and toward the Hagakure Apartment. Gaara gulped, somehow wishing that Naruto wasn't there.

His wish came true when he entered his apartment. Kankuro and Temari was rather surprised that he was living alone. Gaara was getting him comfortable in his home, and when he got to the living room, he saw the finished painting of the sunset. It was beautiful for just three colors. Although Naruto kind of cheated by mixing the colors. When he was back after the lunch break, he had finished this painting, and went out again in order to buy some spray paint.

* * *

Naruto had his hood up as if he was about to commit vandalism, though this was a place to be vandalized so it didn't exactly matter. He was repainting his decorative walls, adding a bit of a touch to it. He couldn't put anything else on anyway, he had already ran out of room. It was a small place, and Naruto made sure to use every part of it. Now that it was starting to rub off, he decided to spray it back on.

"Have you been here the entire time?" a girl asked, standing outside the fence to Rogra.

He looked to see who it was, and it was the same girl in the morning. "No, I just came here about half an hour ago."

She examined his face, her expression appeared not in awe with his eyes. "How old are you?"

"The same age as you," he guessed. "Possibly."

Hinata smiled, stepping into Rogra. She made sure to not step on the wet part of the picture. Coming over to him, she watched his next movement. He paid no attention as he continued on spraying over his painting. For some reason, though, Naruto had this feeling. It was a weird feeling, but he couldn't help but to smile. It was nice to have somebody watch him at his work.

"Don't you have school?" Naruto began.

"School already ended."

"Really?" he stopped. "From what I remembered, I usually come out of school after six."

Naruto wouldn't know that school ended after three in the afternoon. He was always out doing something paint related until six. Hinata furrowed her brows, saying, "What school do you go to?"

"None. I quit school," he replied nonchalantly. "It wasn't my thing." Naruto watched her reaction, and chuckled. "Don't worry, I know how to read, write, and do basic math. I think that's all you really need."

"We're not in the old times," she replied.

"I haven't had any trouble yet."

They went on with her rambling on about how he should get an education. It reminded him of Gaara, and he had to laugh. "You sound just like Gaara right now. It's funny."

She smiled and blushed, somewhat not understanding what he meant by that. By the time Naruto had finished covering everything and made it look more like it was graffiti instead of beautiful paintings, Hinata had given up on the topic Gaara was still going on about. Although she had to wonder why he made the paintings into graffiti.

"I bought spray paints thinking that it would make my job easier, but it ended up like this. So I just went with it." He shrugged. "It looks nice in a more streetwise way. This will probably catch somebody's attention and maybe they'll even clean it for me."

"Why would you want that?" she sounded worried.

"Because there's no more space to paint, and I don't want to clean all these up."

He glanced at her to see that she was flabbergasted. It was true that he was lazy and didn't want to clean up his artwork. He supposed that if he made it uglier, somebody will do the job for him. Probably. They spent another hour together, sitting on the metal, rounded fence. They talked about anything that came up in their head. It was as if they had known each other since forever. What interested Naruto the most was her eyes, but he didn't want to be rude and question them. So he went for something less personal. "So you draw?"

"Mhm."

"I'd like to see your work, someday."

That brightened up her face. "I can bring them tomorrow if you meet me here."

"I always come here every day."

With the promise set, Hinata finally realized the sun setting down. It was time for her to go. Her father would get mad if she returned late. They said their goodbyes and head separate ways. Naruto stuck his hands into his pocket, and traveled back home.

When he was at the door of his apartment, he could hear somebody chattering very loudly behind it. He wasn't in the mood to be all grumpy, so he plugged in the key and opened the door. Walking in, he found two people he didn't recognize, not that he could in the first place. Gaara greeted him, and introduced the other two.

"I'm Naruto, his roommate," he responded.

"Oh, so you're the guy who's going to help us?" Kankuro blurted.

Gaara hissed, not wanting Naruto to find out about that just yet. Too late for that now. "Help you on what?" was Naruto's reaction.

"Huh? You're not mad?" Gaara wondered.

Naruto didn't like helping out people he didn't know, even if Gaara was part of it. But the person standing in front of Gaara wasn't Naruto. It was somebody different. Naruto shrugged, replying, "I got all the time in the world anyway. What do you need?"

"I want you to make me puppets!"

"I'm an artist, not a crafter."

Temari rephrased it, "He wanted you to paint the puppet."

"Yeah, I already have them." He pointed at the wooden box sitting in the middle of his legs. Kankuro opened it and grabbed all three of it. "This one is Black Ant, this one is Crow, and this one is Salamander."

Out of all the puppets, Salamander was the only puppet that looked like what its name entitled. Naruto tilted his head, questioning, "What are you guys doing with these?"

That spread the smile of Kankuro's from ear to ear as he simply answered, "A puppet show!"

* * *

Author's Note:

* * *

I'd appreciate any kind of feedback, because I like knowing where my story's at and how it's doing. It's like a baby, you know, ya gotta let me know how I'm doing.

The other thing is that I have this thing where I don't really focus on one person, but the Naruto/Hinata pair is still the main thing in the story. I just like to shift to other people from time to time so that it wouldn't get boring (at least for me). Also, I don't know if I want to pair Gaara up with somebody, he doesn't feel like a guy who would date somebody (in my head). Kankuro on the other hand...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Naruto had overslept today from helping out Gaara and his friends. His stomach roared, demanding food. He rolled off of his bed, landing safely on the floor. After a two minute nap, he stood up and left his room. In the kitchen, he opened the fridge and saw two plates wrapped in plastic. Taking both of them out, he noticed a note on it. "Temari and Kankuro had breakfast with me this morning. You were still asleep so I thought I'd save you some," from Gaara.

He yawned, heating the two plates up in the microwave and then putting them onto the table. He sat, said his prayers, and opened the plastic wrap. They were the usual breakfast that Naruto had never eaten before. This was what a family breakfast would look like if he had parents. The small plate had two pieces of toast, the butter on top had melted. When he lifted the plate up, there was another note on the bottom. It was wet and rather hot. He peeled it off and it said, "Orange juice's in the corner of the fridge." The handwriting wasn't Gaara's, so he assumed it was Kankuro's.

After getting a cold glass of OJ, he looked at the main plate. It was scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, and pancakes. These were probably brought over, because these ingredients weren't in his house except for the eggs. Scratching his head, he began to dig in.

"Mm, delicious," he muttered.

When he was done, he put everything in the sink, cleaned his hands and mouth, and went to the bathroom. When he did everything he was supposed to do in the morning, he put on his hoodie and exited the apartment.

At the Rogra, a horrifying sight was to be seen. His idea of somebody cleaning up for his had backfired. He ended up making it look like it was a new gang had come into the city of Konoha. And this attracted the wrong kind of crowd. Some thugs were in his realm, and they were tarnishing his graffiti. This place was for him, and him alone. This made Naruto rather pissed off.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" he shouted behind the fence to Rogra.

They had their hoods on, but their obvious dyed hair was shown. Piercings on their lips, ears, and wherever else on their body made them look tough. Though Naruto had dealt with people like them. He entered Rogra, and repeated, "I ask what are you doing?"

He glared at him, baring his fangs. The tough acting thugs would do the exact same, but just from the eyes of Naruto staring down at them had them shaking. It was an unusual sight to see a person with such demon eyes. They dropped their cans and fled, one of them badmouthing Naruto on the way out. He grabbed that person, pulled him close, and hissed, "Say that when you have the guts to fight me."

Throwing the thug off balance and watching him scuttle back to his mates, Naruto groaned. He stared at the damage done, and told himself to clean this up. The process of this would take hours upon hours if he really wanted to make it spotless. But first, he would need some towels and a lot of water.

* * *

Kankuro was sketching in class, and Hatake took the papers away from him. Now he was made to stand outside of class. He grumbled in silent, "It's not like you teach us anything."

The sketches were made for Naruto, just an idea to throw it at him if he needed to. He hoped Hatake wouldn't show it off to the class. That would ruin the surprise. With a sigh, Kankuro snuck away from class. Kakashi wouldn't care. He walked around the school campus, occasionally hiding from the staff members patrolling around the halls. While he was having fun, he had encountered a scene that he would see in a TV show. It was of two girls arguing. Or that was what he was expecting. But no, they were quietly speaking to each other.

Then Kankuro noticed that one of the girls was from his class. If he could remember, her name was Sakura. Then the blond girl next to her, well, he didn't know who she was. They were in the gym, and so was Kankuro. He could go inside and blend in like Sakura had. He didn't have his PE clothes with him. So instead, he went for a more stalker-ish route and went outside of the building. They were near a conveniently opened window. He was crouching from the windows of the gym from the outside, and kept on turning corners until he heard the sound of Sakura.

When he was there, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He turned it on to see who was texting him. It was from Temari: "Kankuro, where are you?"

"I'm outside the gym," he replied.

Temari texted back within seconds. "Why?"

He was missing out their discussion, so he unashamedly put it out. "I'm trying to eavesdrop on these girl's conversations, now stop texting me."

On the other side of the text conversation, Temari sighed. "What the hell is he thinking?" she mumbled.

When he could finally focus on the two, his eyes started to wander as he was scouting for patrols. The bouncing basketballs and squeaky shoes made it hard to eavesdrop. Though he could decipher, "I love…," "Sasuke…," and "Ino."

He guessed that the blond one was named Ino and not Sasuke. The mention of that name made his mood foul. Kankuro despised that guy, and it wasn't the same reason as all the others. The fact that Sasuke made all the girls screamed in the classroom annoyed Kankuro. It made him want to choke all of those girls, and then there was the fact that he was acting way too cocky. He growled, but continued listening. From their tone, they sound as if they both had the hots for Sasuke. That was when something happened. He heard a loud stinging sound, and he had to sneak a peek.

Everybody did.

He saw Sakura standing up, her eyes teary. Ino was on the floor, a red mark on her cheek. The teacher was coming their way, but Sakura didn't care and left. He went to check on Ino first and asked who she was. Ino refused to tell him her name, and was left alone after that. From the look of Ino, Kankuro couldn't help but to pull out Crow from his backpack. He had bought his needed goods with him for safe keeping. He attached the strings to Crow, wrapped them around his fingers, and he was good to go. Crow wasn't fully finished, but it had to do for now.

He put half of his building over the window, dropping the wooden puppet down and imitated what Crow would sound like: "Hello there, young lady, I see that you're having some trouble."

Crow was right in her face, astounding her a bit. Though from where the voice was coming from, she looked up to see Kankuro over her. He smiled, and fully climbed over the window. He saw the teacher looking at him and waved. "Hi Baki!"

Then the teacher paid no more attention to Kankuro. That problem was over. Kankuro could've just went inside if he had known the teacher for this class was Baki.

Ino was teary just like Sakura, although it was probably because Sakura had slapped her with so much strength put to it. Kankuro tried to cheer up. "That looks like it hurts, but at least she didn't punch you, right? Could've knocked your jaw out."

Sakura was known for destroying walls, and it was all thanked to her karate class. Ino giggled, laughing away the pain, and replied, "Are you implying that I have artificial jaws?"

"No." He shook his hands in protest. "Unless you do."

"I don't."

He put up Crow again, moving his fingers to stir Crow into motion. "Hey, missy, do you like Sasuke?"

"You just have to put it out there, don't you?" she sighed.

"I am a very straightforward puppet," said Crow. "So I take that answer as a yes?"

She sadly smiled, nodding. "Yet I feel as if it's wrong to be."

"Why is that? Is it because he's out of your reach."

That pushed a button as Ino grabbed Crow and pulled the puppet right up to her face. "What did you say, you stupid puppet?" she growled.

"Hey, hey!" Kankuro intercepted. "Crow isn't trying to do any harm."

"Yeah! I'm not trying to harm anybody!" Crow cried, feebly lifting up his hand to touch Ino's face. "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way."

She released Crow, and apologized. "I mean with what happened."

"What do you mean, missy?" Crow coughed.

"With what happened with Sakura."

"Did you two get in a fight? I wasn't there to see it. Kankuro told me that her slap could be heard throughout the Hidden Leaf Academy."

"It appears that she likes Sasuke also."

Kankuro dropped the Crow act and said, "You just found out about it today?"

"She came here to tell me about it, and she even skipped class. I don't know why she's making such a big deal out of it."

He stared at her expression, hardening up his in order to asked, "What do you like about Sasuke?"

"Huh?" she blushed, a tad panicky.

"I want to know why girls dig him so much. I don't see it."

"He's pretty cute, and he has this calm and cool personality—"

"You say that he's calm and cool?" he laughed. "That's funny! I always thought he was a jerk and that you guys are attracted to bad guys. I supposed he's just a guy who despises girls."

"What?"

"I'm just guessing. He is always like that when girls are around him, and he looks really annoyed too. It's like as if he wants to run away from his current status."

"Now that you said that, he does…"

"If I somehow manage you to get yourself out of daydreaming about Sasuke, then I think my mission is done," Kankuro said, starting to stand up.

It wasn't a good idea to stay here any longer. The class was almost ending. He was unwrapping the strings and putting Crow back into his box. Ino asked for his name. Placing the box inside his backpack, he said, "Just your friendly puppeteer."

* * *

It was the afternoon, and Naruto was tired from cleaning not even half of the graffiti. He exhaled, and fell down on his butt. He stared at the walls, and groaned, "Why did I have to paint so much?"

"Hey," said the person coming up behind him.

He looked at them, and noticed that they were the three guys from back then. This time, they were wearing masks, but he could remember their voices. He jumped up and saw their weapons. Bat and knives. He scoffed, saying, "Thinking you're so tough now?"

They chuckled slyly, surrounding him. There was no way out, and Naruto was worn out alright. He was unsure if they were waiting for a time like this or they just happened to show up at a bad time. He lifted up his arms in defense. The first one attacked with his bat. He had it up in the air, swinging it down. Naruto captured it with his hand, throwing the thug off and kicked him down. He took the bat for he had known he would be dead without a weapon. The other two arrived in with their knives.

Naruto was able to knock out one of them, but the one with the red jacket got to him. He dodged the stab, but it sliced right across the side of his abdomen. He growled, swaying it right across his face. The de-armed man charged at Naruto, tackling him down to the ground, the bat flying out of his hand. With his position on top of Naruto, he flung down punches. He caught one of the punches, though he couldn't exactly get the man off. Roll him over. Naruto gulped, grabbing the man's shoulder with his empty hand, and rolled him over.

Free from his grasp, Naruto got back on his feet, and nimbly made his way to the bat. Unexpectedly, the second man who Naruto thought was knocked out came back on his feet also. He hurried, keeping an eye on that knife. That was when the pain started to set in. He felt numb at first, but now the stings from his abdomen turned on. He grunted, having a bit of trouble coming down to pick up the bat.

He managed, though, having the wooden bat in his hands, he shouted, "You still want a fight? I'm not afraid to bash all of your heads in!"

This was the first time his eyes really shined, his pupils dilating. It reigned terror over his enemies as the option of running away popped in their head. This demon was not scared.

"Tch," they scoffed, but decided to retreat.

They were a man down, and they could've thought about this through. Naruto would not be able to take all three of them at the same time if they had come all at once. That was their mistake, though. He kept his act up until the three were out of sight. Finally, he fell back down, breathing hard. His side was bleeding hard, and he knew he should go visit the doctor for a patch-up. He indirectly looked at the sun, watching it coming up to the sky still. It was almost the end of school, if he was correct. Hinata would come, and he didn't want to miss today.

No excuses.

He wondered if anybody would find him here laying in his own blood. He doubted it. Rogra was in the middle of a neighborhood that couldn't care if he was dying right now. Nobody came out of their home to see who it was, there weren't sirens being played off in the distance. Nobody cared in this neighborhood. It wasn't in the open street with cars too.

Barely anybody passed Rogra during the day time.

He struggled to bring himself up again, limping to the fence and used it to support him. He blew out another breath, and watched for any civilians. One would almost call this street an alleyway, only a few would cross this place. Actually, the pathway was too small for a car. Yet it had sidewalks for some reason.

Naruto groaned, holding onto his stomach. His face was numbed from the constant hits, though it did sting him whenever he flexed his facial muscle. He breathed in and out slowly in order to slow down his fast beating heart. The cut itself wasn't big, but it opened up even more due to Naruto continuous swingings with the bat. Now it couldn't stop bleeding, and it appeared that his body wasn't going to take action on healing itself.

"Hey," said a voice, and Naruto hoped it wasn't another goon. "Are you okay?"

She rushed to him, a bag to her side. He saw that, and then examined her face. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"You look like you're my age, and you're asking me that?"

"Well, I don't go to school."

"I got sent home early," she admitted. "Something happened."

"Ah."

He released his grip of the fence, and slowly sat back down. Then he thought to himself, "Why had I even stood up in the first place?"

She went in to Rogra through the opening, and put down her backpack. Inside, she took out a first aid kit. Naruto watched her as she calmly got what she needed. "Lift up your shirt," she ordered him.

So he did. She flinched at the wound, yet carried on. The girl carefully wrapped the bandages around the cut, and snipped it when it was draped enough. After that, she pulled out band-aids, and stuck them on the bruises on his face. "There you go," she puffed out, smiling.

"Thanks," he replied.

She gaped at the walls, frowning, and asked, "What happened?"

"I was cleaning the graffiti, and then I was attacked," he shortened the event.

"You were cleaning this place?" she was confused. "Why?"

"They're my paintings, I have the rights to take them down."

She was taken aback as she said, "You're the one who drew all these?"

He nodded.

"Wow. Why are you taking them down?"

"There's no more space for me to paint, so I'm going to take them down and paint new ones. I thought they were getting rather old." Then he glanced at her, pondering, "What happen with you?"

"Huh?"

"You said you got released from school early."

She averted his glances, and nervously said, "I hit somebody…"

"Pfft…" Naruto chuckled. "That's pretty ironic."

"Hey!" she pouted.

"Do you always keep a first aid kit with you?" he changed the subject.

"Of course, I want to become a nurse one day." She sat down next to him. "What's your name? Oh, and you said you don't go to school anymore? Why?"

"Naruto. It's just not the place for me. I'm doing just fine without going to school."

"Huh… if only I could do that," she muttered. "My name's Sakura."

He acknowledged that, and yet again, attempting to get up. This time with a purpose. She stopped him, however, for it was would wound him ever further. He listened, resting against the walls. Since he couldn't wash his paintings away, and there was somebody beside him, he might as well strike up another conversation. "So why you hit this certain person?"

"I don't know really… instinct took over, I supposed."

"Did that person assaulted you?"

"Not really. We were just talking. I wanted to tell her something."

"About what?"

"You might not know him, but there's this guy that I really like. His name's Sasuke."

"I heard of him." From Gaara. "He's always surrounded by girls, right?"

"Yeah… I told a friend of mine that I had a crush on him. She said she also had a crush him. I just got mad."

She was saddened by the fact that she made such a rash action. Naruto watched her with a blank expression, and all he could come up with to reply to that was, "That sounds stupid."

"What did you say?" she yelled, grabbing his shirt and pulled him up.

Realizing her action, she let go, apologizing. He then continued, "Why'd you get angry at her for? Because she likes the same person as you? So?"

"It's a girl thing," she explained.

"Really?" he gawked at her, sounding unconvinced.

"Yeah," she went with it.

They had a laugh, conversing until it was the end of school. During the time, she helped him clean up the blood splatter on the floor. Naruto threw the bat into the trash pile in the corner of Rogra. She had to waste time instead of going home early and worry her parents. Technically, she would worry them more because the news was brought home via home phone. Anyway, she had to go home, but she warned him not to move so much. "And don't get into any more fights!"

"I'll try," he said, sitting, and watching her leave.

Now it was time to wait for HInata. With Sakura gone, he started to do the opposite of what she wanted him to do. It didn't hurt as much, so he was able to resume cleaning.

* * *

"What were you doing at the gym anyway?" asked Gaara.

"I led a girl out of the blinding light of Sasuke." He was proud of it.

Temari sighed, adding, "And why did you do that?"

"I don't know. I just hate seeing girls swoon over that guy when it's obvious that he doesn't want their attention."

The three siblings were walking back to Gaara apartment. He had yet to know if he was starting to regret bringing them to his home or not. Though he had a feeling that Naruto was at Rogra. That feeling went away after he passed the alleyway that led into Rogra. If he wasn't, they would have a reading session then. The book they were reading (Kankuro had picked it from the start with no objections) was called, "The Puppet." And it was seriously about the life of a puppet.

Gaara would work on the stage, Temari would do the voices and write down the dialogues, and Kankuro would bring the puppets to life. That was how it went. Kankuro knew of the winner's prize, if happened last year. The winner would be able to present this at the Spring Festival. He was all worked up, and had read the book about five times already.

The hardest part of the project for Kankuro right now was to not spoil anything to Temari or else she'd murder him. Like him, Temari was addicted to the book. Gaara didn't understand the concept. His friends would gladly explain it to him since he didn't care about spoilers.

On their way to Gaara's home, Kankuro noticed one of the smartest girl in the school coming their way. She was holding a thick notebook, and she was puzzled about whether she should run or walk. They stepped off the path to let her continue. Hinata thanked, and apologized. From her course, Gaara assumed she was going back to school or a friend's house. That was when she made a hard turn to the alleyway leading to Rogra. They were out in the open street, and it was currently swarmed with students. But Gaara knew that path led to Rogra. Was she seeing Naruto?

Well, she shouldn't stick his nose in somebody else's business. He caught up with Kankuro and Temari.

* * *

Naruto groaned, feeling his wound reopening. He heard footsteps of a rather excited girl. It was a shame her mood changed because of him. She would cry in terror if Naruto hadn't have band-aids on his face. He assured he was alright. His voice was wavering, so it wasn't very convincing.

"Is that…?" he pointed at the book.

"Oh…" she raised it up to cover her face. "It's kind of embarrassing."

Hinata handed it over and he gawked at it. The artwork was all in pencils, but he had seen her work with colors. He didn't question it, however, he only closed it and said, "Paint something for me."

"Huh? But I didn't bring any materials with me."

"It's alright, I got some here. I hide them since I sometimes don't want to bring them home." At the corner was a bunch of trash, under was the paint box. He pulled it out, stating, "I painted a picture of a sunset yesterday. The painting has already gotten over five-hundred in bids."

"Overnight?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. Are you parents okay with you make money like that?"

"Hm? I don't have parents. I live alone."

"Huh?"

"Technically, I have a roommate."

"I'm sorry for asking."

"It's alright. I don't care." He waved it away.

He brought out what was needed, and let her choose after that. Hinata was slightly nervous to paint with Naruto watching, but she did her best. The walls of Rogra were smooth and easy to draw on. While she was painting, Naruto went on to clean the rest of the mess.

"What happened here?" she grimly scarred the ruined painting.

"I attracted the wrong crowd," he simply said. "I don't know why I'd even think somebody would wipe this up for me. There is barely anybody passing through this place."

"You're right."

Since there was only a portion of the wall was free for her, she started off small. She wanted to make a landscape. So she painted grass and flowers on the bottom. She was crouching, a palette in her hand and a little brush on the other. He watched her, although he sometimes forgot he was supposed to wash all the paint down. His stomach hurt, his face showing the pain. Holding onto his abdomen, he breathed in slowly and made sure not to let her hear. The boredom of rubbing against the wall repeatedly got to him after an hour or so. He took a glimpse of what Hinata was making. She was in her own world at the current moment.

He threw the towel back into the bucket, staining the clear water. He went to see what she was doing. The style right now was pointed toward kids, Naruto noticed that first. He had seen such art style as this when he first read his children's books in grade school. It was simple, but good to look at. Although if she persisted with this, it would end up looking like a playground. She was already done with the bottom portion, and was painting the sky. He maintained a keen eye on her strokes.

"Say, Naruto," she uttered, catching him off guard. "Why did you mention about your painting?" rather than the fact that he wanted to boast.

"I just wanted to start a conversation."

"Alright," she stopped for a second, turning to him. "Let's have a conversation."

He shrugged, initiating, "Are you interested in children's book?"

"I am," she giggled. "You can see it out of my painting, can't you?"

"It's captivating."

"I can see you paint more of nature." Before Naruto destroyed it. "Is there any motivating that you have with these?"

"Not really. I usually just improvise and I test myself sometimes by choosing three random colors. I try to make something with the three colors I have."

* * *

Kankuro played with Crow, a tad bored at the moment. The two were indulged in their readings, and it was the rule that he couldn't spoil anything. Death would be his punish if he failed to obey the law. He was using both of his hands to move Crow since he didn't feel like tying strings around his fingers. It was too silent in this apartment, so he ended up talking to Crow.

"Say, Crow, what do you think about Temari?"

Temari's ears twitched, listening in closely. Crow scratched his polished head, answering, "I think she's a very nice young lady, although she—"

Smacking him with the thick, hardcover book, she growled, "Will you shut up?"

"It's better than me just telling you what happened to—"

Coming back for another round, she smashed his head with The Puppet. He was out of the idea of talking back. Crow, jumping on Kankuro's limp body, uttered, "Temari is a scary woman!"

She took Crow away from Kankuro's reach as he pleaded, "Help me Gaara! I've been taken hostage by the evil witch!"

"I'm going to break both you and Crow if you keep this up," Temari muttered bitterly.

"Sorry, I'm just really bored right now."

"We didn't expect you to finish the book already," Gaara said.

"Do you have any video games around here?"

"In my room."

Kankuro lifted himself up and head into Gaara's room. It was a portable console, and inside was a little RPG game. He went back to the living room and sat down criss-cross. "This is the only entertainment you have?"

"I usually work most of the time when I come back home. I just happen to have a whole week off right now due to somebody accidently burning a part of the building where I work at."

"How did they 'accidently' burn down a part?" Temari pondered.

"Cigarettes into a trash can, it spread fast since nobody could find the fire extinguisher. The others ended up running away or either took it as a means to get out of work early."

"Wait… you're talking about the Eflen building right?"

"Yeah. I work in one of their restaurants as a waiter."

"That five-star restaurant?"

"Yeah."

"Wow!" Kankuro exclaimed, not taking his eyes off of the console. "I can't believe you have Relevation. I was no expecting this game. I heard there was only a few copies of it being sold, it's super rare!"

"It is?" Gaara wondered. "I didn't know that. I bought it for five dollars."

"How?" he stared at Gaara as if he was the messiah.

"Somebody offered it to me during work."

"That guy must be an idiot. You can sell this for at least five thousand dollars, more if you had the platinum edition." Then he laughed out of nowhere, like he thought of a really funny joke in his head. "The things people do in order to get this game. And here you are, being offered Relevation by your coworkers. How lucky are you?"

Gaara chuckled, not exactly comprehending what Kankuro was talking about.

"Oh, well. Doesn't matter anyway."

With Kankuro finally distracted with something, the reading session continued. Temari was taking notes as she read in order to get a feel for the characters and somehow imprint it onto the three wooden dolls that Kankuro had. Gaara noticed her work, feeling a bit guilty about not doing anything productive. Then again, he had to finish the book first. They never told him exactly what to do in the creation of the stage.

* * *

It was evening when Hinata was done. It stuck out from the rest of the graffiti, but it looked nice either way. Naruto promised that the next time she came back, the surrounding mess up art would be gone. "I still have a long road to go before all of this is gone."

"I'd like to help," she offered.

"If you want, but the sun's setting. You shouldn't stay any longer. If you want, I can walk with you home," he said.

Then Naruto rethought what he just said. What was he saying? This was an extremely creepy comment coming from him. Hinata replied that she'd appreciate it. If she was fine with it ,so was he. Following her closely, he walked her back to her house. Although she insisted that he could leave her now since she was at the distance where she could see her house. He did what she asked and stopped in his track. His eyes was still on her. Until she arrived to the comfort and safety of her home, he watched. When she was, he sighed, and ambled back home also. "Brrr!" he grumbled, shivering. The nights were cold.

* * *

Author's Note:

* * *

Kankuro and Ino? I'd ship it. Hahah, I seriously did not expect that. It just came into my head and boom, here it is in written form. I was searching up some pictures of them together, and seriously, they do look kind of good together. Somebody said that they never even talked in the anime, but is that really a requirement? Pfft! No.

Also, is anybody getting a bit of a nostalgia feeling reading this story? I know I do.

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter. Please leave a feedback of your favorite scene, of whatever confused the fluff out of you, or whatever else you want to say. I appreciate any form of feedback, especially ones about the current relationship with Naruto and Hinata. I haven't figure out how all this will work, Kankuro and Ino on the other hand, I actually have already thought out their plans (kind of...).


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